Vicks started 2024 the same way it ended 2023: atop the list of the leading Rx and over-the-counter (OTC) pharma brands.

Data released by iSpot.tv Wednesday morning pegged the cough and cold relief drugs brand owned by Procter and Gamble as the top Rx and OTC brand by impressions share of voice (SOV).

Vicks generated 3.2 billion impressions during the month, spending an estimated $14 million on national TV ads. Coinciding with the height of cold and flu season, Vicks received the largest portion of its impressions SOV from ABC, with The View serving as its top program.

This marks the third consecutive month that Vicks has topped the Rx and OTC rankings.

Second place belonged to Dupixent, which had an impressions SOV of 4.08% and 2.6 billion impressions. The eczema and asthma treatment from Sanofi and Regeneron again received the lion’s share of its impressions from ABC and ABC World News Tonight With David Muir on an estimated national TV ad spend of $30.7 million.

Meanwhile, the bronze went to Reckitt Benckiser’s Mucinex, which had an impressions SOV of 3.76% and 2.4 billion impressions on an estimated national TV ad spend of $10.3 million.

The only change among the top five brands was AbbVie’s Rinvoq leapfrogging Boehringer Ingelheim and AbbVie’s Skyrizi on the list. The two brands also tied for the highest estimated national TV ad spend, each plopping down $38.8 million in January. 

As has been the case since the start of the fall, football continues to deliver ad impressions for pharma and healthcare brands. That dynamic has only heightened with increasing viewership throughout the NFL playoffs in the lead up to Super Bowl LVIII on Sunday night.

“The NFL Playoffs provided a chance for prescription and over-the-counter drug advertisers to reach some of TV’s largest audiences all year, with games delivering 22% more impressions this January compared to January 2023,” Cassandra Arora, chief marketing officer of iSpot, said in a statement. “As live TV increasingly centers around football-related programming, you’re seeing more pharma brands take the plunge into those waters, despite the price tags attached.”

The bottom half of the rankings consisted of Alka-Seltzer Plus, AbbVie’s Vraylar, Amgen’s Otezla, GSK’s RSV vaccine Arexvy and Breztri Aerosphere. Falling off the list from the previous month were Pfizer’s migraine treatment Nurtec, GSK’s Advil, Pfizer’s RSV vaccine Abrysvo and Abbott’s FreeStyle.

Additionally, Alka-Seltzer Plus had the lowest estimated national TV ad spend with $5.6 million.

For a March 2024 article about Vicks reigning supreme as top Rx, OTC brand for four consecutive months, click here.